Perfection in a Dish. (Orange Chicken over Rice)

 So, if you know me, you know I cook. You also know I write, and there are times when I compare cooking to having sex - - usually when I'm writing, and trying to hold the attention of my readers. Today, joy of joys, I'm just going to talk about cooking and leave all the bedroom innuendoes where they belong - - which is in the bedroom. Today, because I can, I'll talk about making perfected orange chicken over rice. (It's not hard)

    First, you make a choice to either buy the orange chicken in a bag at Trader Joe's (they do a great job) or if you're going to make it yourself using the raw ingredients. If you go the T.J. route, the entire thing only takes about 20 minutes once you soak the rice and you're done. I'll start with this method.

• Buy the long or jasmine rice.
• Buy the bag of orange chicken.
• Soak your rice for 10-15 minutes and rinse twice.
• Refill the rice cooker with enough water to only cover the rice that you're cooking. You don't want too much water. Start the rice cooker.
• While the rice is cooking, not soaking, you open the bag of orange chicken, remove the duck sauce packets and you spray a pan so you can load the pan and put it into the oven on 400  for about 20 minutes. (The rice will just about be done when your timer goes off.)  
• Once your timer goes off, remove the chicken, put it into a bowl mix it with the duck sauce, and place it back on the pan/cookie sheet to warm in the oven you just turned off while you make sure the rice is actually ready.
• Wash your mixing bowl so you can get that out of the way.
• When the rice is ready, you take the chicken out of the oven, and you stack the rice on your plate, add the chicken, and if you need more duck sauce you squeeze the little packets you were about to toss into the bin.

    OK, now for the real way, the more satisfying way in my opinion. Preheat your deep fryer and get it ready with new grapeseed or olive oil (extra virgin is best, and you don't need to fill up the fryer, if you're using a smaller fryer that's better anyway, you only need to use about 2" of oil) You do NOT want your oil to be too hot. You want it to be hot enough to fry but not to burn the meat on the outside. (Check your instructions on the machine you use, if you use an open pot on the stove, be sure to not plop your pieces into the oil. Lower them with a slatted plastic spoon.)

• Buy your rice and chicken.
• Buy flour, eggs, and milk too. (to make a good batter)
• Cut the chicken into small pieces (1" pieces or smaller)
• Soak your rice for 10-15 minutes. Rinse twice, and fill up the rice cooker to the point that your rice is covered, but no more. Start the rice cooker.
• Mix the flour (1/2 cup, 1 egg white, and some milk) into a bowl, and give the egg yolk to your dog who by this time has realized you're in the kitchen and should be there to help you.
• Dip the chicken pieces into the batter and get them all battered up and ready to be fried.
• Put the chicken CAREFULLY into the deep fryer, a few pieces at a time. When they are floating, let them turn golden brown, remove them, and add more chicken pieces.
• This process takes about 8-10 minutes, so be sure and time it correctly so your rice is not still cooking. You want both the rice and the chicken to finish at about the same time. (I could absolutely have added a sexual comment right there, but I am refraining. Have you noticed how many times I have possibly restrained?)
• When the rice and the chicken are both done, you can start the duck sauce. It's really fun.
• You'll need: orange or apricot jam, chili or cayenne sauce, soy sauce, a bit of white vinegar, and garlic. It's 100% up to you as to how much of each you use. I use the following:

1. 1/4 cup of jam
2. 1/4 cup of soy sauce
3. 1 tsp garlic
4. 1 tsp cayenne pepper
5. 3 tablespoons of white vinegar

Mix the ingredients together, and pour them over the chicken or keep them as a dip, it's up to you. Once you top the rice with the chicken you can say your prayers and enjoy your meal. I hope you have learned something today - - if nothing else, you have learned that I don't always have to mix my fantasies with my recipes, but you also know me well enough by now to know I did so in my head.  That invisible Scotsman who often likes to join me both in the kitchen and the bedroom made his appearance at least a couple of times during this blog -- he is just too cute for words.  Sigh....oh...Craig! Not here, wait...sigh.

Photo Credit:  Me

Earthquakes in Diverse Places. (Like Oklahoma)

 It's been several years now, but one day I was in my apartment living right here where I live now as far as apartment complexes are concerned. I lived upstairs and I had a really sweet neighbor whose son had just moved back with her for a few weeks to save money to get into his new house. Well, I poured myself another cup of tea and was just about settled into my cozy couch to watch the OU/OSU Bedlam game, when that man decided to make so much noise that it literally shook my apartment!

    I jumped out of my skin, to say the least, and I ran out to the balcony of my unit to glance down to have a good holler at the man when I saw him flying out of his apartment below me and he was about to fuss at me for doing something to interrupt his game watching too!! 

    Both of us just sort of stared at each other, and I said something like, "Wait, that wasn't you?" He retorted, "No, I thought you did something bad enough I was gonna have to come save you or something."  Then we both sort of felt something else, but this time without the noises; it was just the rumbling of the ground...EARTHQUAKE!!  That was in 2015 I think. I would have to go look it up to see how big it was, but it was in Edmond, Oklahoma which is about 15 miles north of where we were living.

    Today, just about noontime, I was again, sitting in my cozy chair reading a book with my dog by my side and though I'm in the same complex, and I'm still living upstairs, I felt the livingroom shake -- I wasn't sure if the whole apartment shook, but again, I thought maybe the neighbors below me were playing hockey or something; maybe crashing into the walls with their pick up truck. I just wasn't sure. 

    Today's temperatures plummeted from 62 degrees yesterday to about 11 degrees today, so that can cause the earth to make really funny noises and it can cause disruptions in or near faultlines as well -- and that's what it was! Up there in Edmond, Oklahoma again, the world was coming to an end! We had a 4.4 Mag Earthquake, and then a few minutes later there were a couple of smaller aftershocks; one of them right up under my brother's house and the other under my sister's nose!

    My dog and I just sort of hung out in the chair blaming the neighbors when one of my friends posted something about it on social media, and I put two and two together. I called my daughter out from the other room to let her know we had survived the earthquakes. She was happy to know it, and we did the little praise dance; as it really is a reason to thank God when you are spared the tragedy that some are not spared. 

    If you look at Oklahoma on a map, you'll not only see that we are plumb right on top of Texas, which is where God intended us to be, but we are also nowhere near a fault line of any sort whatsoever -- so why do we have Earthquakes? Some say it's fracking, and I don't doubt that one bit - - but whatever the reason, we have had a few rather good shakes and it makes me think of the Bible verse that in the End Times, there will be earthquakes in diverse places.  The Bible doesn't say ONLY those places with fault lines -- it says diverse places. We count!

    Now, if we're having alien sightings, which some say we are, and we're having earthquakes in weird places, and we're about to see Damascus taken out to the point that no one can ever live there again (think nukes) - - then maybe we're looking at the last days of the last days, and we're about to go home soon! Wouldn't that be awesome?  Say yes, because if you say no you're literally saying Jesus isn't as important as whatever it is that could possibly keep you here on this earth. God really needs to twist your spirit if you're thinking that way.

    LET'S GO HOME!!!  That's what I'm thinking. That's really really really what I'm thinking. For now, I'll just keep the dog close, the book pages turning, and my ear to the ground -- I mean, it could have been my weird neighbors too, but this time, it was legit.  The ground moved.

Photo Credit: USGS.gov

Southern Women Rule (You Need to Know This Fact)

 I am an American. I say that proudly, and I will never give up my American citizenry. I may end up moving to Scotland, but I will go back and forth as long as I can, and I will always be a Southern American woman when someone inevitably asks me where I'm from. They can't not ask; (double negative) it's in my voice, it's in my actions, it's in my demeanor - - making me a bit de-meaner than some I suppose. 

    Having fallen in love with Scotland, and all things connected to the great country, I can't help but want to visit it as often and for as long as I can each time I go. I can't tell you the heartbreak that happens when I have to leave it. I implode to a degree. My daughter has a VR set and she'll look up videos and 360s of Scotland and I'll just sit there for 15-20 minutes and stare - - wish, dream, think.

    Today, because I'm so very connected to all of my roots, I decided to make a great Southern breakfast for myself and think of all the Scots who would pay me good money to bring this particular meal to their neck of the woods. I made myself biscuits and sausage gravy. Now, in the US when you say "biscuits and gravy" it's always (almost always) assumed that the gravy will have pork sausage in it.  Mine is a bit different. I put a little gravy in the sausage. I'm going to pile that sausage pretty dern high up on top of my biscuits and you'll see the gravy of course, but you'll know the main characters for sure. For me, and maybe it's because I'm not only a Southern woman but also an Oklahoman, I will pile that sausage right up there.

     I tried a dozen times to make scones, I promise you I did, but it just never worked for me. I wanted to do it - - I did. I followed YouTube videos and I watched so carefully. I read up on it, I Pinterested the subject, but no matter what, my Southern oven just wouldn't do it. The ingredients just felt too close to those of a good old-fashioned biscuit, so that's what comes out of my oven each and every time I tried to scone it up for good measure. I have come to grips with it; I may be 48% Scottish, and even another 47% English, but I am 100% Okie, and there's just not going to be a high-topped floured treat in my life...unless I buy it.

    So, today, and other days, I decided to make biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. I have the cutest little tiny food processor that processes the one cup of flour and 4 tablespoons of butter that I need to make 8 good round biscuits. I added the other ingredients as well, but of course, the milk comes last. I really do prefer the food processor to me trying to fight the slicing and the blending. It's more even, and though my Granny and my Aunt Wilma may give me a stare or two from above, I'm satisfied that some things are better in 2024 than they were in say...1924.

    I will say that I remember my Granny being able to make taller biscuits than me, but I was quite a bit younger at the time, so maybe it's just a visual perception. I don't know. What I do know, is that I can't scone for anything. I just can't. I have given it my last go - - until I decide to try again and become just as disappointed as I usually do. The thing is, I wanted to make scones so I could say I did it - - and to be able to split one in half without it falling apart. You can't do that with a biscuit, not a good biscuit. They crumble when you try. That's the basic difference I suppose.

    Maybe my biscuits have more flour. I could play around with that, but in the end, it's the same. I like thinking of scones with clotted cream and jam, and I end up doing the clotted cream and jam, but only with biscuits, and it's not as "regal" or pretty. It's flatter and more crumbly - - broken up and pathetic really. They do taste good. I will say that, the biscuits with the clotted cream and jam do taste good -- they just won't win any awards for aesthetics.  My biscuits and sausage gravy may not win any beauty contests either, but I will say that mine are better looking than those that have only bits of sausage in the mix - - yeah buddy! 

    So, there you go - - ask me -- I'll tell you, I was born in the United States of America, right in the middle of Oklahoma City. I was raised in a good old-fashioned Baptist home (we eat a lot) that believes in being able to make food for the congregation from an early age. I was under the age of 10 I know, when Aunt Wilma dragged me into the basement kitchen of the 40th Street Baptist Church to peel potatoes and boil them. She would have tanned my hide if I had cut myself too; just telling you the truth. No blood in the water! She would have spanked me good if I had bled without permission!

    Growing up in the South (Southwest) meant that we ate a lot of biscuits. We ate them with gravy, with butter, with jam, with bacon, with meals, with eggs, and just all by themselves. There are few ingredients, and they're cheap to make. A good biscuit can last a week if the weather isn't too hot outside; but you do have to sort of heat them up now and again - - please don't tell my Aunt or my Granny that I use the microwave and a wet paper towel to make that happen. I think Granny put a damp cloth over the pan and let it steam the biscuits on lower heat. 

    There you go - - Scones will be purchased or eaten if someone else can make them. They will be gloriously appreciated as well. I don't have to worry if anyone likes my biscuits. I never have a single one to heat up again unless I'm making them for myself. I can't seem to use less than a cup of flour, which makes about seven or eight.  I've been on the other end of that where we used over 10 pounds of flour to cook enough for all the people at the church who were counting on the kitchen ladies to feed them on any particular Wednesday night. I miss those days. I really do.

Photo Credit: Me. (The gravy back there only has a bit of sausage now, I added much more later)

    

New Routine! (Love it)

 As previously discussed in another blog, I have decided to do more in terms of relying on God, and less of relying on myself. This has been the most free-feeling event of 2024. I can, without lying, tell you that I feel really safe, secure, and taken care of. I don't necessarily feel as if I'm in control of anything because quite literally, I gave up all of my control. (Not that I really had that much of it to begin with, mind you.)

    So, one of the new things I'm doing is something I did about three years ago actually, I'm choosing to spend about an hour of my day listening to my preacher Charlie Garrett. It's not hard to do; let me just say that right off the bat. Charlie has probably 3000+ sermons out there, so yeah, spending an hour listening to him on video (YouTube) isn't difficult. The hard part is knowing that I'm only 1/3 of the way through the Genesis sermons. There are 130 I think -- then we go to Exodus. I'll be here a while.

    Charlie was preaching in Genesis about 12 years ago, I think these videos are from 2012. That tells you straight up that the rapture will happen before I get through to the end of these Bible teachings, but hey, that's OK, eternity is a very long time, and I'll sit and listen to him preach in person when we get to Heaven. He'll still be doing it, and he'll still be barefoot on some beach somewhere. That much I know.

    Listening to him go into deep and dedicated detail of whichever verse he's preaching on in whatever video he's preaching in, I find myself learning stuff. I find myself saying to myself, "You know, I remember my other preacher talking about that, but Charlie thinks further, farther, wider, deeper, and he just won't let something sit on the surface. He digs."  I learned today, since we're talking about it, that Abraham didn't sin or show a lack of faith when he asked his wife (who was also his half-sister) to say she was his sister - - so the Egyptians didn't kill him to keep his wife.

    Abraham, according to Charlie, actually acted in faith because he didn't tell her to lie; she was his half-sister. He did it so that he could guarantee his safety, as God had promised him that he and his wife would bear children; they hadn't yet. He didn't want to end up dead; so he bought himself some time. As it turns out, the Pharoah gave him much in terms of a stipend for allowing his beautiful wife to be in his court; there was no inappropriate behavior reported. Most preachers just jump to conclusions and say things - - they don't dig. Charlie digs. I like that.

    So, I'm finding that spending an hour or so every day listening to the Word is good. I know it is, but I'm discovering it all over again. I learn every single day, and I look forward to the next chapter -- or verses; whatever is going to be taught. I also find that I can pause Charlie when I need to, take a break, eat, walk the dog, whatever I need to do, and come back to the video without missing anything really cool. You can't do that when the preaching is live you know - - just sayin'.

    Most of you already know I pray inside a real closet, and I take my dog and sometimes my cat if he's hanging out in the closet before I get into it to pray.  The dog sees me take off my glasses at the computer, and she knows I'm about to hit the closet. She jumps onto the chair before I can get there; it's hilarious. She's a keeper. Two hearts, one mission. She loves Jesus too. It does make me think that I was right in my assumption that animals are actually angels -- they are God's detectives; they tell Him exactly what we're doing!!

    Anyway, this is my new life, and it's a worthy thing I'm adding to my new life. I need it. I want it. I look forward to it. If you need encouragement, or enlightenment, even if you just need to learn more about God -- tune into Charlie Garrett with The Superior Word on Sundays and Thursdays. He's on Rumble. I'll add the link.  The YouTube sermons are the older ones. I'll link those too.  Yes, he looks like he belongs on Duck Dynasty -- and no, he really doesn't wear shoes. He's barefoot most of the time. 

    Charlie was in the Air Force, and spent many many years in high maintenance and development of wastewater management around the globe; he's one of those smarty pants you hear about. To think he's a preacher now, and living on the beach basically down in Sarasota (in a house with his wife of 39 years and their 8 Chihuahuas) you'd never know he has had such a diverse life...but he has. You'll like him, you can't help but like him. I hope you'll listen to him too.

LINKS:

https://rumble.com/c/TheSuperiorWord

https://www.youtube.com/@SuperiorWord

The Genesis Sermons:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=charlie+garrett+genesis+sermons

Photo Credit: Pinterest.com

Oil Pulling (Trend? Maybe it Works)

 If you were like me, and you had never heard of oil pulling, you wouldn't know, as I didn't know, that this very basic and simple (ancient) ritual, is pretty cool. 

    I still don't pretend to know all about it, after all, I've just learned it even existed. I'm studying it, researching it, finding it to be both inexpensive and doable, and I'm asking myself, "Why not?".  That's basically the stage I am in right now. In fact, I am actually oil-pulling while I write this blog so that I can do it longer than I have done in the past three days. 

    This is my fourth day to oil pull, and the first three days were around 5-6 minutes. Today, because I'm writing, blogging, and basically not thinking about it, I'm able to keep the oil in my mouth much longer.  According to the gurus online, you're supposed to do it about 20 minutes a day. I don't know if I'll do it that long, but maybe 15. We'll see.

    So, what is it? Simply put, oil pulling is using oil (coconut oil specifically) to pull the toxins out of your mouth, and by doing so you'll help your body rid itself of bad bacteria that can cause bad breath, tooth decay, and all the other things that bad bacteria does to you; you know, bad stuff.  Does it work? I don't know. It can't hurt! I mean, think about it, you're swishing coconut oil in your mouth for 15-20 minutes a day. It's not like you're swishing something around in there that isn't 100% organic and natural to begin with.

    Unlike swishing water, the oils pull from the sides of your mouth and get in between your teeth to get to the gritty ugly stuff in there as well. Some people say it's helped them break up plaque. OK. I'm OK with that too if it works. I'm just not seeing a downside to all this. I only see good. It's not as easy as it seems either because your mouth does become sore if you're not used to doing it, but you do get better at it. 

    You don't swallow the oil, that's important because if you do, you're swallowing the bacteria right along with it. You spit out the oil into the trashcan, not the sink or toilet. It is oil after all, and you don't want to start the makings of a clogged-up sink since you're doing this every single day.  I looked it up, you can do it every single day.   The oil appears white and foamy when you're finished and it's good. You can almost feel that you did the right thing just by looking at the discolored oil - - I use 100% organically cold-pressed coconut oil. I think I paid $7 for the jar. Super cheap. 

    You can use coconut oil in your coffee or tea to help you lose belly fat. You can work it into your skin after a bath. You can soak the tips of your fingers in it (heat it for a few seconds) and then after a few minutes of soaking you can massage your fingers, and file them, keeping the cuticles clean and your hands softer. There's just a lot of things you can do with coconut oil. I also use it to make soaps. It's the main ingredient I think, or one of the first 2.

    Lots of fun, lots of uses. Go look it up for yourself, and even if the dental industry is trying to say there isn't enough evidence to say whether it works or not, consider who's saying it -- someone who doesn't want us to stop paying them for dental care. I think it has to have some benefits. I'll give it a good 30-day try and if I like it, I'll keep it as a daily thing.

Who knew? (about 8,000,000,000,000 people from the yesterdays)

Photo Credit: Golden Dental Wellness Center

Unfair Treatment - - Shouldn't Be This Way.

 I think it was the first of November, and my daughter and I were coming home after I picked her up from her job, when I was pulled over by an Oklahoma City police officer. The funny thing is, I saw the cop behind me (in my rearview mirror) and I remember him sort of smiling. There was a car in front of us that literally ran a red light, and I joked with my daughter Laura and said, "Well, you know, the cop is behind me, and doesn't want to take the time to turn around in the middle of the street to stop that guy I guess."  

    When the light turned green for us I proceeded, but then out of the blue, seriously, out of NOWHERE, the cop turned on his lights and bleeped his sirens at me. That sort of bleep bleep that they can do to get your attention. He pulled me over. When he came to my window he asked for my license, which I had already dug out, and I was going through my phone apps to find my most recent insurance ID card as well. I thought I could at least be proactive.

    I don't get stopped. That should be told right off the bat, because I drive slowly, cautiously, and sometimes overly careful, and if I'm being pulled over there's a real issue. Apparently, there was a real issue. My license decal was missing from my tag. WHAT? That can't happen. It occurred to me that it may be out of date though - - it was November 1, and I was a day out of paying for it. It was due in October. Surely, I thought there was NO WAY this guy was going to give me a ticket for ONE DAY!

    No, he was telling me he was giving me a ticket because there was NO decal sticker to show the year I had purchased the tag. He went into his system and it came up that I had not paid for my 2022 tag but I had. He gave me a ticket and asked me to get the tag replaced to lessen the overall charge of the ticket which was something like $178.  I got charged $178 because someone stole my tag and because the tag agency that took my money in 2022 didn't record my payment! I had the receipt, but without it being recorded they said I could have generated the receipt on my own computer. (They don't know me. I can't do tech.)

    So, the next day, November 2, I went into the tag agency, and my tag was paid for, but not just the 2023 tag, oh no, I had to pay for the 2022 tag as well. That was WRONG. I showed them the receipt, but they had no record of it. The receipt (they said) was probably out of the machine that doesn't register the money because I probably paid for it in cash. I don't remember, but it's not beyond the scope for me to do that. They had a guy who was stealing cash and not reporting it - - so I got stuck. 

    Anyway, the thing was just so wrong on so many levels. I would think that I should be able to force the tag agency to honor my receipt, I should be able to file a police report showing the tag was stolen, and I should be able to get a new tag to replace the stolen one - - and yes, pay a fee for being a day late, but not have to pay the $178 for the ticket, nor the $275 for the two years of tag plus penalty! Penalty for not having the tag registered - - and they are the ones who didn't do the registration. It was and is wrong. 

    Again, I am blessed, I am blessed, I am blessed. I was given extra time to come up with the payment, as it was hitting me at a time when I was unemployed. Laura was about to pay it for me, but then lost her job. God is so good. He allowed the city to let me wait, and I was able to pay for the ticket today. They did take off $20 for having purchased the tags within 10 days of the ticket. If nothing else, I have that.

    Still, I should have been able to speak with two separate supervisors and explain that I have never not paid for my tag, I have never been pulled over for poor driving, I really do take my citizenry seriously, and though I was ONE DAY late getting the new tag, I shouldn't have needed to pay for a tag I had already paid for. Their system should not allow someone to give me a receipt and not register the cash. How is a citizen to know that? We can't. We just smile and say thank you, and we leave the office with our decal.

    It is a lesson I learned that cost a bit, but it is also a lesson to be shared because if it is happening to me, it is happening to others. I asked the cop if I could file a report with him and he told me no, because he was pulling me over. The city told me that he lied. The city told me he should have offered to take my report. Again, I'm not upset with the Oklahoma City Police, but I am upset about that one cop not being diligent, so yes, I reported him to his supervisor; who knows if it will come to anything. 

    Bottom line - - we need to be kind. We need to do our jobs. We need to be compassionate, and understanding. We need to realize that things happen and even bad things happen to good people. We need to be open to listening and working with people. Maybe no one will care, but I do. I care. Maybe no one will pay attention, but I do. I pay attention. I made sure everyone in my apt complex knew about the theft. There were at least three others who had their tag decals stolen as well. Maybe I stopped them from getting pulled over. Who knows?

    Just this: be good to each other. It really does make a difference in this cruel and ugly world.

Photo Credit: Me.

The Great William Ginn (Oops, Maybe I Shouldn't Use His Real Name)

 Among us, mere mortals (humans) walks a man who is by far, by so very far, greater and more radiant than any of us has a right to consider him or herself.  His name is William Ginn. No, this is not a Billy, Bill, or Willie, this man is the real McCoy - - or Ginn. He's a real Ginn.  He's apt to be titled really, maybe deserving to be called "Sir William Ginn", which now that I think about it, he very well could have been. His mother may have actually called him that as a child, which would explain at least a little of his behavior.

    I worked with the man, the legend, for only a few short months between May 2015 and March 2016. We were officed in the same space and we worked for the same agency through our state's government. I'll protect him further now, by not telling you what agency it is, but he is a full-blown Director. He's that important; we'll just leave it at that.

    When I worked there, he was a director as well, but I didn't work for him, only with him. I would have given anything to have worked for him because then I would have given him the title of my favorite boss. He does hold the title of my favorite co-worker, and that's saying something considering how many jobs I've had and how many co-workers I've worked with. To be #1 takes a lot of conning and let me tell you, this man is that man.

    The director I worked for, and subsequently, the same man that Ginn worked with (not necessarily for) was a con artist in my humble opinion, and I couldn't stand him. I couldn't stand to look at him. I couldn't stand to hear him. I couldn't stand to say I was his admin - - he repulsed me. The ONLY thing that kept me at the office every day was the bright and sunny smile of the man whom I give homage to; Mr. William "Sassy Pants" Ginn. 

    Ginn would show up and we'd have a bit of a ritual every day, several times a day. We'd say certain things to make each other laugh. He had a particular chair in his office that he would fantasize that a certain someone (I won't give his secrets away too easily) would one day sit in. I would pretend to be that woman, and make him giggle. Ginn could giggle. He was a master of the craft.  When I say I only stayed to be near him I mean it. I wasn't in love with him, (sorry William) but I was in love with his heart, his mind, his intellect, his being, his attitude, his moxie. 

    If we never meet again this side of Heaven, we will be linked arm and arm up on Glory Street, skipping and laughing, I know it. He has traveled the entire world by himself, and on his own, taking with him his can-do attitude; sometimes scaring the living tar out of me when he would travel about because he couldn't text or use a smartphone to save his life. Here he would go into the depths of the forests and wildlands of Bolivia, Mexico, Brazil, and other places....Peru, I think, and he would do it without a means to communicate!! 

    When I met the man he was OLD...we'll just let that one sit right there. He knows it, I know it, we all know it. He started working for the state when he was just out of high school I think, right around the time Teddy Roosevelt signed Oklahoma into statehood in 1907. Don't quote me, but Ginn is over the hill, OK. He's old. The thing is, I'm about to go into semi-retirement and he's working every day. He told me today that he's working to pay for his traveling; he's got more to do apparently.

    Well, just so you know, and you should know, I wish the best for my buddy, my pal, my tea-drinking friend of yesteryear. I can't wait to skip the golden streets with him and make silly faces at those we never believed could have made it to the pearly gates!! I'm that type, and thankfully, so is he!

Blessings my friend. Enjoy your next 178 years!!! You Rock!

Photo Credit: Displate.com  (This is the best picture of William Ginn I could find)

F.R.O.G. (Gonna Get a Little Churchy on Ya!)

     If you read my blogs, as thankfully 15 of you do, (thank you) you would know that I am choosing to rely fully on God for literally every single thing in my entire life. It just makes sense to do it. I know that all through my life, and especially my adult life, there have been so many perilous times when I did, and when I didn't rely on God for help. There were stupid and ignorant times in my life, and maybe in yours, I don't know, when I thought I could handle it. I was a tough, independent soul, I am a woman, I am a Celtic woman (by DNA) and I was born to other very strong people who have stood the test of time over and over again.  Then it hit me...they didn't do it alone.

    When I was younger and I wanted something really badly, I remember going up to my aunt Wilma and asking her to pray with me. If she thought it was something that she needed extra help with, we pulled Granny in on that prayer time too. I don't know why I didn't necessarily go to my mom, I think I thought Wilma and Granny were stronger in their faith and I really wanted God to hear me. Do you see where I'm going with this?

    My mom became the Granny.  My aunt passed, my actual Granny passed, and my mom became the one we went to. I was blessed in that I knew she was close to God, and I knew she would carry on the same way that her sister and mother did. Aunt Wilma was the type to look you straight in the eyes and ask "Have you prayed about it yet, or are you thinking you don't need to?"  My mom may say something like "What have you tried? Did that work? Have you thought about praying over it?"  Do you see the difference? My mom knew God had the power, and she knew I should go to Him, but she wasn't directly saying it, and Wilma did. Direction! I needed.

    So, I grew up, I got old, and by God's grace I've been able to make a lot of things happen, but there are times when I just can't do it. I am unable to begin doing it, whatever IT IS I am not there; so I do realize that I need HIS help, and I will directly go to Him to ask because now; you may have guessed it, I am the GRANNY!! ME!!  I am the one that grandkids will come to, I am the one who my nieces and nephews can come to. I am the one who will look them in the eyes and say "Have you asked God yet or did you think you could give it a good go yourself first?"  It's the way you deliver the question; it's all in the deliverance...you gotta have the eyes that go with it. You sort of squint one I think. 

    Waking up and praying is the best. Praying throughout the day is awesome. Realizing that I'm about to do something but need to think it over and pray it out first, just makes sense. Why not give literally EVERY last thing to Him?  He already knows the answer. He already has it all worked out. There's no real reason to worry, there's no real reason to fuss. If you think about it, giving it all up gives you the freedom you need to think about things you can change or things you can do. Don't sweat the tough things; His shoulders are a lot bigger and they're more capable too.

    There's an OLD abbreviation from the 1980s...that's how old it is I think. It's F.R.O.G.  Fully Rely on God. Before that, I remember the W.W.J.D. or What Would Jesus Do slogan. I need to be a F.R.O.G. Christian. I need to put all the trust I can into Him and let Him make the decisions. I can put on the armor, I'm supposed to do that. I can be weaponized, reading the Word and keeping it. I can think, I can plan, I can even hope, but I can't begin to take action until I've sought the method and direction I need to go. It just makes sense, and I do need more sense at times.

    Let me give you an example, so you understand. I am unemployed today, but I won't be. I owe people, but I won't soon. All around me people are bustling, hustling, hurting, crying, weeping, seeking ways and means to make ends meet but I know who I have believed. I know I will be OK. If I fret, if I worry, if I panic, I won't make anything come to me any faster or any better than if I just stop, pray, let go, and wait. What will be, will be, and He has it all wrapped up - - I'll give you a couple of verses to show you.

Isaiah 60:22 b (paraphrased) "In His time it will be".

Psalms 34:10 "The young lions suffer, want, and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."  

    Oh heck, I'll give you a few more because you may need them.

Psalms 37:4-5 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to Him, and HE will bring it to pass."

Matthew 6:33 "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." 

and of course this one:

Isaiah 41:10-13  "So, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  For I am the Lord, YOUR GOD, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 'Do not fear; I will help you.'"

    So there you go. Yeah, I got a little churchy, but I don't actually attend church these days. I go online to www.rumble.com and watch Charlie Garrett of The Superior Word. Here's a link: https://rumble.com/c/TheSuperiorWord

Be blessed and yes, if you need Him, He is there. That's the really cool thing about God. He didn't go anywhere, we did. He's always been there. He will always be there. Just start your own journey to find out. He's that awesome. 

My preacher man, Charlie Garrett of The Superior Word, Sarasota, FL.

Photo Credit: The Superior Word

I Went with Mint! (Mint Mobile)

 There is not a person on this planet who impresses me to the point that I would change my phone plan because they were either an owner of that particular service, or they were lending their name to it. I think Ryan Reynolds may actually be the owner or part owner of the Mint Mobile services; which is OK, but that's not why I changed. I have other reasons.  (Just so you know, the only one who could impress me enough to change would be a greater celebrity, maybe Faith the Dog. I would switch to be closer to her...she's my girl.)

    So, this morning I woke up after not having a phone for about a month and decided to switch carriers. The reason I didn't have service was my own stubbornness. I had paid for my phone and my service throughout the year, but then sometime in November, I got a notice from U.S. Cellular saying I owed $187.87 on my phone (an iPhone 12 Pro Max) and that I was behind in my service contract. I knew I wasn't. I checked with my bank, got my statements, circled the recurring withdrawals, and pointed this out to U.S. Cellular to NO avail.

    When I refused to pay more, they cut my service. I get it. I really do, but I was right, and I didn't mind being inconvenienced for that. My daughter had her phone, so if I needed to place a call or have anyone call me, they could do so using her number. She only texts. The last time she placed a call was for food to be delivered and if I'm honest, she probably used an app for that as well. No one actually calls anyone - - except me. I still call people.

    After refusing to pay, I let the year run out, and I got my last statement from the bank and again proved to U.S. Cellular that I didn't owe anything. I spent time on the phone with their customer service, and found out they had been charging me $28.19 a month for over a YEAR for an iPad I had not even turned on in over 15 months. I had canceled the service, they didn't do their due diligence, and WHAM...I get hit with them saying I owe them when in reality, they owed me!! There you go!! Booyah! 

    Well, I woke up and thought OK, I can do one of two things. I can continue with U.S. Cellular, or I can switch. The plans at U.S. Cellular didn't match what I liked; so I looked into other carriers. The one that struck my fancy was Mint Mobile. They have a special going on; you can get any plan for $15/month for three months with no switch or activation fee. After the three months, the cost reverts to whatever plan you really want, and you move forward, but you do pay three, six, or twelve months in advance. That's their little hangup.

    It only took nearly two hours, but hey, what's time when you really come down to the wire? I am so non-techy I needed 100% assistance with the downloading, the switching, the settings, the ins and the outs. I decided not to keep my old number because a few weirdoes had it and were spamming me and trying to get me to sell their products. I was blocking their robo-calls constantly, and Mint Mobile had a really cool feature for blocking such calls!! Woot.

    Anyway, after speaking with three or four of their customer service people who were absolutely helpful and informative, I now have a new number, and my friends couldn't be happier. They were getting tired of messaging me on Facebook Messenger. I am the texting/calling Queen and they missed me. They literally said (some of them) that they missed me. They missed me!! Can you believe it? Well, that's so nice. If I die today I know I will be missed.

    Three things I learned through the whole switching phones process:  I know what an IMEI number is, and I know how to find it. You dial *#06#  on your device, and your IMEI numbers pop up. The customer service people need this to see what phone you own and who the carrier is.  I learned to find out if my phone is unlocked or not. I didn't know. I really had no idea. You go to Setting/General/Cellular Carrier and look. I think that's right. If not, Google it. My phone had no restrictions. I really thought U.S. Cellular would have restricted it since they thought I owed them for it. This proves I didn't.

    The other thing I learned was how to use the back of an earring to open the little trap door for the SIM card on the left side of the phone.  You can't use silver earrings. You must use stainless steel, gold, or platinum. Silver will bend. I learned that. I finally got it open with a gold earring and I popped out the SIM card so they could "install" the eSim card and we could move forward. I saved the physical SIM card just in case. I have a thing about throwing out tech...I get nervous about that sort of thing.

    There we go! I have a new Mint Mobile line, that uses all T-Mobile towers, and I don't have to pay anything for 3 solid months. I think I'll do the 3-month thing in the future. I don't use more than 3.8 GB so the 5GB plan is good for me. It's $25 a month, so $75 for three months. Not bad. I was paying $37.45 at U.S. Cellular for 3 GB and it would run over now and again, so I think this is gonna be good. Change is good. I'm 100% behind this one. I only had to bite my tongue three or four times in the process; so that's a plus right there.  I wrote to all my contacts to let them know I had a new number. I also changed my signature on my email and changed the resume contacts. It was a DAY!!!

    IYKYK....I am NOT techy. This was a good thing for me to try and achieve without the assistance of a kid - - or almost, Laura did have to show me where my "bars" were. She's cool like that. I didn't even know I had bars. I had bars. 

Photo Credit: MintMobile.com

My Resolutions!! (2024)

 What is this, the 5th of the new month, and I'm finally getting around to telling everyone my New Year's resolutions? Dang, I'm really not that concerned about them I suppose.  Well, that's not entirely true, but when I tell you my two main choices you'll pretty much understand what it is that is keeping me from going off and talking about it. I'm trying to rein in some of the overtness and do a bit more of the calmness; there's a reason.

    So, my first and most important New Year's resolution is to pray more and lean less. By leaning less, I mean to lean less on my own understanding, and to put God's ideas, wants, and plans before my own. I have screwed up enough over these past many years to know, that I am not the best plan maker - - nope. I am just one of the millions (if not billions) who put themselves first or at least fairly close to the top of their own priorities; I need to stop that behavior right now. I think I know how to accomplish that.

    The prayer thing is a big thing. I pray all the time, but I decided that this year, (kind of started it last year to be honest) I do more in the actual closet praying, and with my dog. Sometimes, because I'm really overly spiritual, I'll allow a cat or two to creep into the closet to snuggle up with us when we pray. Ginger is so used to going into the closet that sometimes I will catch her in there praying when I'm on the computer writing. I glance over and she's on the little chair with her head between her paws!! Wait for me!!

    So, by praying more and letting go of so much more, I think I'm actually going to feel better, be healthier, relax more, and just be a happier person. Believe me when I say I don't really worry about much anyway, but now I'm just taking that to another level completely. I'm seriously just going to let the troubles hit me, acknowledge them, and head straight into the closet to leave them at Jesus' feet. I don't want those troubles. I just really don't.

    Today, out of the blue I was hit with something that never should have happened and I got upset. I really did. I nearly shot out of my head from it, but then I remembered my promise to myself and my promise to God. I'm not going to dwell on it. I'm just going to dump it on Him and leave it there. I can't do much if anything to change it; He has to. If it will be changed, if it will be helped or resolved, He has to do it. I just can't anymore. I'm too full of hope now. I just can't argue with Him and His reasoning. The Bible is too often proven. There is no reason to fear. I hate that I even blew up, but maybe over time, I'll learn to stop that as well.

    When I saw a meme today that made me smile, I decided to share it. It goes along with the first resolution and now my second. My second resolution is to share my faith, to show others that it's not a gimmick, it's not something I do for attention. It's not something I think will pass either. I believe and I know that God is good always. He really will be the provider. The meme said:  "We don't pray to God because of who we are, we pray to God because of who He is."

    God and God alone will keep 2024 and every other year, month, day, hour, minute, and even every second in check. He and He alone is the Resolution. If that sounds churchy, well, don't think of it that way. Think of it as just a really good honest statement from the experience of someone who has fallen over and over again, but who has decided to not fall alone - - If nothing else comes of it, I will be still, and know He is God.

    It works, Tex. It works.

Photo Credit: Ebay